DiMaggio

The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis
$38.00
Sociologists who are trying to understand the basic theoretical principles undergirding the neoinstitutional framework will find this book indispensable. As other reviewers have said, Powell and DiMaggio include some of the foundational pieces of the new institutionalism. In addition, they include several pieces that were seen as groundbreaking (or at least attempting to innovate neoinstitutional thought) at the time this book was published. For instance, papers by Powell and Friedland and Alford attempt to integrate notions of power and political interest into the otherwise top-down, culturally centered theory.Potential readers should keep in mind that there are several new institutionalisms out there in social science. Those who want to understand the difference between rational choice, economic, and polity-actor versions of the theory will find the introduction by DiMaggio and Powell very useful. It has been one the center pieces of my theoretical toolkit in helping me to map out the conceptual distinctions between the variants of institutionalism.

Joe DiMaggio : The Hero's Life
$17.00
This is an excellent biography overall. I got the feeling it was extremely well researched and well written, and I learned a lot about Joe DiMaggio, "the greatest ballplayer who ever lived," as he liked to be called.

But the picture painted by Richard Ben Cramer is not pretty to look at. Joltin' Joe was, it appears, a money-grubbing skinflint who expected people to give him everything for free and immediately became suspicious and cut people off as soon as they asked for the smallest thing in return. He cut off his son, who later died of a crank overdose, for not living up to his standards. He lost two wives, including Marilyn Monroe, essentially because he was so controlling and domineering. Although he managed to patch things up with one of his brothers, Dom, he basically died alone under the effective control of a lawyer who was out to get everything he could from the DiMaggio estate.

I didn't doubt this picture as presented by the author, but I felt there must be something missing. Late in his life, he was a very popular social fixture on the New York scene, hanging out with a lot of luminaries such as Woody Allen, Paul Simon and Henry Kissinger, to name a few. I found it hard to reconcile Cramer's picture of DiMaggio as, well, a jerk, with the apparent fact that he was a popular social butterfly late in life.

It seemed to me that he must have had a charming side too, or he wouldn't have been so popular. But there was little suggestion in the book that Joe could be charming. That's why I gave this book four stars instead of five -- that feeling that something must be missing. Still, it's a great book and a great read. Highly recommended for baseball fans.

McFarlane Toys MLB Sports Picks Cooperstown Series 4 Action Figure Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) Pinstriped Uniform
$19.99
He started baseball's famous streak
That's got us all aglow
He's just a man and not a freak,
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio.

Joe, Joe DiMaggio
We want you on our side

The song "Joltin'" Joe DiMaggio was penned in 1941 by Ben Homer and Alan Courtney for the Les Brown Orchestra, where it was sung by Betty Bonney. Of course the reference is to the 56-game hitting streak that began on May 15 when DiMaggio went 1-for-4 with a run batted in against the Chicago White Sox. It would end 56 gmes later on July 16, the day before third basemen Ken Keltner of the Cleveland Indians made two terrific backhanded stops to rob DiMaggio of hits. During the streak DiMaggio had 91 hits in 223 at bats to hit .409, to go along with 56 runs, 16 doubles, 4 triples, 15 home runs, and 55 runs batted in. DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak is one of the greatest individual achievements in baseball history. It might not be as impossible as record to break as Cy Young's marks for career wins (511), career losses (316), and complete games (749), and no one is going to come close to Jack Chesbro's 41 wins. But in terms of single season achievements in the realm of hitting the only other marks that seem equally unassailable are Earl Webb's 67 doubles, Babe Ruth's 177 runs scored (or Billy Hamilton's 192 runs if you want to go pre-1900), and Hack Wilson's 191 RBIs. But none of those have the cache of DiMaggio's hitting streak.

What is nice about this Cooperstown Series 4 action figure of Joe DiMaggion in the pinstripped uniform of the New York Yankees is that it is clearly based on one of the best known photographs of the Yankee Clipper, sold on Amazon as The Swing, Washington, D.C., 1941, Joe DiMaggio Photographic Poster Print, 11x14. Was the photo taken during the streak? When the Yankees went to Washington in late May (27-29) those were only games 12-14 in DiMaggio's streak. He went 4-5, 1-4 and 1-3 during the series, with the Yankees winning the first two games and tying the third. So if the photograph was indeed taken during that period it was not because photographers were focuing on the streak.

I rounded up on this figure because they did a great job of capturing DiMaggio's distinctive hitting approach, even if they did add a lot of dirt on his pants legs and were rather inconsistent on drawing the pinstrips. But I also like the details that you can just tell DiMaggio is wearing a blue t-shirt underneath his uniform, and that the pine tar goes a third of the way up the bat where the signature is for "Joseph DiMaggio." The sculpt of the face is pretty good, but more from the profiles than from the front. There is no articulation for the figure and you have to add the right foot to the figure to complete it. The most significant change is the knob of the bat comes already attached to the figure's left hand. In the beginning we had to cut open the hands of a batter (e.g., Jason Giambi) to put the bat in position, and then they did it so the knob came off and you could slide the bat into position (e.g., Hideki Matsui), and hope the knob did not fly off and disappear. So this is a great improvement (although I did spend a couple of minutes looking for the knob on my desk or on the ground when I opened the package and found it was not on the end of the bat.

The Yankee Clipper played in 139 games in 1941, getting 193 hits in 541 time at bat for a .357 batting average (of course, that was the same year that Ted Williams batted .406). DiMaggio scored 122 runs and drove in 125 while hitting 43 doubles, 11 triples, and 30 home runs while only striking out 13 times, and winning the second of his three American League Most Valuable Player awards. It is quite appropriate that joining DiMaggio in the Cooperstown Series 4 are Ted Williams completing his swing at Fenway Park for the Red Sox (with road variation), along with Roger Maris of the New York Yankees (clearly based on the photograph of him hitting his home run #61 in 1961, which makes the Cardinal variant somehwat odd), Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds diving over the short fence in front of the dugout at Riverfront Stadium to catch a ball, Steve Carlton about to deliver the ball on the road for the Philadelphia Philies (or at home), and an upside down Ozzie Smith doing his pattented opening day back flip in St. Louis for the Cardinals.

With DiMaggio (#5, first worn by Bob Meusel) and Maris (#9) getting McFarlane figures this season, along with Derek Jeter (#2), Babe Ruth (#3), Mickey Mantle (#7, first worn by Leo Durocher), and Yogi Berra (#8), we have two thirds of the Yankee single digit uniform numbers, all of which have been retired except for Jeter (for now). Sooner or later there has to be one of Lou Gehrig (#4), and then the question is whether they will ever do a figure of Billy Martin (#1, first worn by Earle Combs) and Bill Dickey (also #8, although he started wearing #10). Phil Rizzuto wore #10 in case you were wondering (#6 was first worn by Tony Lazzeri, and there are also McFarlane figures of Don Mattingly(#23), and Reggie Jackson (#44) when it comes to retired Yankee numbers, which can include #42, retired now for Jackie Robinson but also in the future for Mariano Rivera. I assume the day will come for Thurman Munson (#15), Whitey Ford (#16), Elston Howard (#32), Casey Stengel (#37), and Ron Guidry (#40), because it seems like McFarlane comes out with a couple of Yankees, past and present, every single year. As soon as I get my updated Bobby Abreu, the new Robinson Cano and the second Johnny Damon figures later this summer, I will have all nine of this year's Yankee starters in Yankees uniforms (Yes, I know, I have to put Giambi at first base instead of DH to do this because there is not a Doug Mientkiewicz action figure, at least, not yet...).

Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio? [VHS]
$9.98
I was looking for a video of the yankees with Di Maggio in actual play. This has a few clips of the games, but nothing spectacular. NBC and CBS both filmed the all-star games in the late 30's and 40's, but they aren't making moves to release them. All we have of the old days are stories. Someone should find the game films and put them out. I'll buy one or two a month.